Oman ran down some $150 million worth of projects in the area in recent years, all linked to truck traffic, which accounts for at least half the traffic on the latest route to be rebuilt on Interstate 40.

Do not be misled by that "half" reference into thinking that cars and trucks are about equally responsible for the road work. The damage caused by truck rigs weighing 80,000 pounds is so much more than that caused by passenger cars that, as this Ohio State University study boiled it down:

The relevant example is I-630 in Little Rock, which carries no truck traffic to speak of. Regular rebuilding hasn't been necessary. Widening for more cars is a separate issue.

Happily for the interstate trucking industry, Arkansas taxpayers gladly raised their sales tax on everything but gasoline and groceries to float a massive bond issue in 2013 to rebuild the Interstate system for them. In 10 years, if not before, they'll be asked to raises taxes AGAIN to rebuild more interstates that truckers have destroyed AGAIN. Truckers enjoy a variety of other tax breaks in Arkansas so that we may be "competitive" with other states.

This special treatment provides Arkansas little benefit from many truckers, particularly those rumbling over the northeast corner of the state between Missouri and Tennessee. Some of them don't even stop for a cup of coffee, but their rigs leave their marks.

We once had a highway director, Henry Gray, who tried to make the truckers pay their fair share. That was long, long ago.

Blue Hog Report has some news on a Republican primary challenge of an incumbent legislator, Rep. Laurie Rushing, by Ernie Hinz of Hot Springs.

Republicans, including at least one from Arkansas, are talking about repealing the Dickey Amendment which prohibits gun research from a public health perspective. But none of them are yet willing to DO anything about it.

Readers also liked…

The Arkansas highway department's representative on the Metroplan board of directors told the board today that the department is requesting an exception to the planning agency's cap on six lanes for its 30 Crossing project to widen Interstate 30 from six to 10 (and more) lanes.

The Trump administration today approved Kentucky's request for a waiver of Medicaid rules to implement certain changes to its Medicaid expansion program, including work requirements. Next up, Arkansas?

Arkansans for Compassionate Care, the group behind the first medical marijuana initiative to qualify for the ballot, has responded sharply to yesterday's statement by the Arkansas Health Department that it opposes legal medical use of marijuana.

A rediscovered violin concerto brings an oft-forgotten composer into the limelight.

My colleagues John Ray and Jesse Bacon and I estimate, in the first analysis of its kind for the 2018 election season, that the president's waning popularity isn't limited to coastal cities and states. The erosion of his electoral coalition has spread to The Natural State, extending far beyond the college towns and urban centers that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. From El Dorado to Sherwood, Fayetteville to Hot Springs, the president's approval rating is waning.

Despite fierce protests from disabled people, the U.S. House voted today, mostly on party lines, to make it harder to sue businesses for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Of course Arkansas congressmen were on the wrong side.